It's Been A Cake Week

This week I have been interested in making cakes and have made three so far - cinnamon cake, a light fruit and nut cake and a banana cake. We have another celebration coming up this weekend and I wanted loads of different treats on hand.

I love making cakes, they are versatile, easy to serve with other things and everyone loves them with ice cream, fruit sauce or a goat's cheese frosting. Cakes are such an old fashioned item, have been made for centuries (or far longer) and are quite the comfort food.

They are also all about celebration - which for us it just what is needed for this coming weekend with the Autumn Equinox or Mabon. I have been looking at older recipes for this occasion with very ordinary ingredients.

Some of these recipes can be the same as traveling back in time - the final outcome has been eaten by our ancestors for as long as we have been cooking. A cake presents a special ending to a satisfying meal and when made for that occasion can lend a great finishing touch.  

For each of these I used white spelt flour for a complete change. I have found it easy to work with, not unlike wheat, however it does soak up liquids a little differently from the wholegrain spelt. I do like the colour of each cake as well, they are lighter with the other ingredients standing out more. 

This week, I wanted to use up the bananas in the house so decided to make a banana cake - but for a little difference I added apple butter in through the top of the batter just before baking it. It smells great, and I can't wait to taste it.

Banana cake with apple butter 

For the fruit cake, I put in lots of fruit and a few walnuts to make it rich and moist. It was sweetened  with apple sauce and maple syrup. Fruit cake would not normally be something I would go for, however as my tastes have changed, I wanted to try to make one.

Fruit and nut cake 

Lastly I made a cinnamon cake, this one is just an ordinary cake with the standard ingredients, but I did put in lots of nuts. It should be very spicy with the freshly ground cinnamon as well. 

For a quick frosting, I normally whip creamed goat's cheese with a little butter and maple syrup. This is absolutely delicious with a great sweetness and spreads onto the cake in the same way as any other sugar frosting. 

Well, lots more cooking to do tomorrow - my last day of this 10 day Master Cleanse for this month. Can't wait to eat some food and move onwards and upwards!

Have a lovely foodie day,

April

Banana cake with apple butter on top- it smells lovely!